"Brewed in late spring and aged in our refrigerator until mid Fall, this barley wine style ale brings a whopping 10.3% ABV to the task. Deep brown and sweet with spices, Old Man Winter Warmer does what its name promises for your nose and your belly. O.G. 1.101."

Somewhat hazy, coppery color. Nice foamy tan head. Very malty aroma wise. Treacle and a hint of spice-almsot like nutmeg. big malty flavor with just enough hops to notice. Somewhat boozey in a good way. Not a sharp alcohol bite, just a warm sort of burn. Nice body-love the sticky, gummy mouthfeel from the malt. Nice UK version. I could do another or 3.

A= Pours a dark brown burnt caramel color. The head rises to a small skin on top of the glass that falls to a ring and leaves a little lacing but not too much. A pretty basic barleywine color. The head is a bit surprising due to the age on it. Three years old and it still holds some carbonation with a screw cap.

S= The smell still contains a bit of alcohol right up front. First thing other than alcohol I noticed is a sort of toffee sugary aroma. Toasted malt and a touch of dark fruit. Mostly a sticky sweet toffee aroma however.

T= The taste is much smoother than the aroma leads it to be. The alcohol is well hidden and the malt comes off a little less sweet and a little more roasted. The flavors are a bit mild however for such a large beer. Leaves me wanting a little more.

M= Still holding a bit of carbonation which is nice and the mouth isn't super sticky.

O= A quality beverage for sure. The flavors are melding nicely but the flavor isn't as powerful as I expected it to be. Light on flavor. I'll have to buy some fresh to see if the flavor diminished with time or if this is just how it is.

Pours a raisin brown color with virtually no head, but surprisingly leaving a white lacing around the edges pretty well.

Smell of marachino Cherries, blue plums, brown sugar and caramel.

Taste of sweet ripe fruit. Starting with an extremely sweet caramel, and as it warms, a more pronounced cotton candy cherry flavor mixed with caramel ripe plums and brown sugar. Purely English hop varieties which are great. This reminds me of Monster from Brooklyn Brewery with less clean profile which I prefer. There is a more biscuity / graham cracker taste to this which comes together nicely with all of the over the top sweet sugars left over. I dont think this beer is extremely well tenuated but it tastes good nonetheless and maybe that was the plan? Some leftover booze / phenol nail polish-like flavors but overall this is nice, a strong sipper that you should take your time with.

Thick mouthfeel and light carbonation. definitely slow sip this one and let it warm up.

Tastes boozy; caramel and bitter is not balancing very well. Could have been hopped a bit more with nobles. Some grassy in there.

Mouthfeel is actually pleasant; cleans up well and leaves an aftertaste that is not overwhelming at all. This is definitely a winter warmer. I could not drink a bunch of it in one sitting; probably two at the most. It is a rich beer that is a good craft warmer.

Pours a brilliantly-clear deep brown/amber in color, topped with a frothy khaki/light tan head. Plenty of lace is left on the sides of the glass as the head slowly recedes, and a good amount of froth is left on top.

The nose is softer than I recall, with dark fruit and no hop presence or trace of bitterness. Plums, prunes and raisins, a hint of phenolic character, but otherwise fairly subdued. The alcohol character is also notably missing*.

Sweet and earthy** on the first sip, with lighter notes of black pepper and pear in the aromatic aspect of the drink. The dark fruits from the nose are all over the place, here, and you'll either appreciate this or you won't. It's not that it's a one-dimensional beer at all, but with all of the other hopped-up American barleywines out there this one would likely seem to fall flat in the eyes (and palate) of some. Some excellent blackberry and cherry notes are left on the back of the palate after the first couple of sips, and there's a touch of lingering bitterness to offset the big up front juiciness and mouthfeel. For some reason this has always reminded me a bit of the dreaded Samuel Adams Triple Bock -- is there maple syrup or sugar in here? Cane or turbinado sugar? It's not a bad thing in my mind, in fact it complements the beer rather well.

Very drinkable for such a big beer, and with nowhere near the heat that I recall it as having back in the hoary old Early Naughts : ) I'm a little surprised that I haven't reviewed this one yet, but on the other hand eight years ago was a blur, and I wasn't "officially" reviewing at the time, and since then Lake Superior has been a little bit difficult to find in the Twin Cities market. Still, this is an old favorite and I'm very glad to revisit it -- worth picking up a couple of sixers at least, as I know for a fact that it ages well!

Served at room temperature, in a tulip.

* I haven't enjoyed OMWW since spring of 2003, but I went through several cases of '02 that year (oh my head . . . : )

** Back when I worked retail, a couple of younger guys returned a sixer of 'Mesabi Red', claiming that it "tasted like dirt". Well, truth be told there -is- an earthy character to Lake Superior's brews (a house ale yeast character, perhaps?) and I liken it to the aromatic aspect of fresh, black dirt. It doesn't bother me in the least, but it's not for everyone.

Pours into a snifter a ruby hued brown color. The head is thin and tan in color. Reduces to a ring around the glass. A little lacing.

Not a real strong nose, but does present notes of apple, brown sugar and hops.

Quite metallic up front, dark fruit juice, solid earthy and spicy hop presence, malty and boozy on the back end. Seems like a little age would help this one open up and meld a bit. Definitely gets better as it warms up to room temp.

Feels a little thin, especially at this abv. Soft carbonation with a dry finish.

Not sure why it's listed as a winter warmer when it says on the bottle it is a barleywine. However, this drinks pretty well despite the high abv. It seems to need some age to really be a good beer. Worth a try, but probably better to cellar at this point.

Lake Superior Old Man Winter Warmer is a beer I've been hearing about for years so I was eager to finally get a sample of it. A hard pour get a finger of creamy foam which collapses pretty quickly. Carbonation doesn't seem to really be part of the equation, though it would be hard to gauge anyway due to the deeply opaque black brew. Nose is bitter chocolate and notes of butterscotch, molasses, and alcohol. The flavor is smokey dark malt, baker's chocolate, molasses, and some sharp grassy/herbal hops off the back. Mouthfeel is smooth and semidry, but there's a bit of alcohol bite which actually accentuates as the brew warms. Very likely the biggest bottled beer made in Minnesota, approach this one with caution- ABV is not listed on the label, but it's probably high-ish. But do give 'er a try...

Slightly watered down with some earthy malt flavor, subtle alcohol and earthy hops. Similar to an English style barleywine, but not a good one. Leathery malts, dark fruits, again mostly prune and raisin. Sweet alcohol with some soft carbonation up front making it pretty drinkable for the ABV. Dry finish with bitter hop notes. I wasn't a fan of this one at all.

A 12 ounce bottle poured into my nonic Imperial pint glass. Appears a clear chestnut / crimson color with about two fingers of quickly fading light ecru foam. Nose and flavor are of brown sugar, raisins, cherries, plums, a touch of cocoa and rich roasted grains. About medium bodied with adequate carbonation. Glad I was able to try something from this brewery, a first for me.

Another extra I had received recently. I had never actually heard to his one before, so I really was flying blind into it. Served at cellar temp and poured into a snifter, this one was consumed on 05/19/2009.

The pour was decent, nothing earth shattering here, with a ruddy copper color, light reddish tint to it, but again nothing really standing out much for me. Light crown of white was on top initially but that also faded quite quickly leaving the top essentially bare. Aroma was a bit hot, lots of caramel and bready malts, hints of what may have at one time been a piney hop bite had faded into a mellow, and messy malt monster. Again the flavor misses the mark for me, too hot and not enough balance for me to be honest. Almost a medicinal quality to the taste as it warms, light candied sugar tries to save it but really does not come across well. Light carbonation, almost old ale like, but again, not very interesting.

Overall not bad per se, but nothing to write home about either. I just think it tried to be too strong and that really drown out any hope it had for a mellow and balance feel. A bit of a mess.